A moderated mediation approach to deciphering the effects of leader knowledge hiding behaviour in industry 4.0

Leader knowledge-hiding behaviour (LKHB) has long-term adverse effects on employees and on overall organization performance. Top-down knowledge sharing is vital in Industry 4.0 for employees to acquire essential skills. Grounded in the Conservation of Resources (COR) model, our study presents a moderated mediation model that sheds light on the effects of LKHB. Based on longitudinal data, we found that LKHB leads to job performance decrement and enhances turnover intentions, with LKHB resulting in lower employee intrinsic motivation, underscoring its importance of as a mediating factor. Our findings support the significant influence of enterprise social media (ESM) on the relationship between LKHB and job performance decrement, turnover intentions, and employee phubbing through intrinsic motivation. The study offers new insights into LKHB outcomes and explores underlying reasons thereby broadening COR Theory applications. This research is innovative in its examination of ESM influences on LKHB and suggests strategies to mitigate its detrimental effects.